Two-thirds expect to receive a delivery by drone within five years, and 80% would pay for the service, a Walker Sands study finds.

More U.S. consumers shop more frequently online and they tend to trust Amazon.com Inc. more than other web merchants, according to a recent survey report from Walker Sands Communications. As for Amazon’s much-publicized experimentation with delivery by airborne drones, most consumers expect that will become a reality within five years.

The marketing and communications firm’s second annual “Future of Retail Study,” based on survey responses from 1,400 U.S. consumers, finds that 68% of them shopped online at least once per month in 2014, up from 62% in 2013. The report also says that “four out of 10 consumers are open to purchasing any type of product online from either retailers or third-party websites like Amazon.” The report adds that 36% of consumers “said they will never buy groceries or food from Amazon,” which compares to 34% who said the same thing for other brands and retailers.

Among the report’s other findings:

• 76% of survey respondents say they would spend more than $100 on a product without seeing it first, up from 70% in last year’s report.

• 66% of respondents expect to receive their first drone-delivered products within the next five years, with four of five shoppers saying that drone deliveries within an hour would “make them more likely to order online from a retailer.” 80% of respondents say they are willing to pay for drone deliveries, with 48% willing to pay at least $5 per delivery.

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• 35% of respondents would be more willing to shop online if they were able to “try on a product virtually.”

• 40% of surveyed consumers have used a “mobile payment application in the past year, up from 8%” in last year’s report. While only 4% have used Apple Pay within the past year, “18% said its introduction makes them more likely to make a purchase with their smartphone in the near future.”

• 19% of respondents report being “the victim of fraudulent purchases as a result of a security breach at a major retailer.” 

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